Method of determining at least one property associated to a dry particulate substance

A method of determining at least one property associated to a particulate substance comprising providing a portion of the particulate substance, wherein the particulate substance and the portion thereof are dry particulate substance, the method comprises

• providing a sample support capable of containing a liquid medium;
• providing a dispersed sample comprising the portion of the particulate substance dispersed in a portion of liquid dispersing medium in said sample support,
• performing at least one scanning procedure comprising
• acquiring a plurality of light transmission images of an image acquisition area translated along a scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support using an image acquisition device having an optical axis and
• processing a plurality of the acquired images and
• determining said at least one property,
• wherein said image acquisition area is perpendicular to the optical axis of the image acquisition device,
• wherein the method comprises predrying the particulate substance to remove at least a part of unbound water, wherein the predrying comprises drying at a selected temperature to constant weight, wherein the selected temperature is a temperature that does not chemically influence the particulate substance.

A method of determining at least one property associated to a particulate substance comprising providing a portion of the particulate substance, wherein the particulate substance and the portion thereof are dry particulate substance, the method comprises

• providing a sample support capable of containing a liquid medium;
• providing a dispersed sample comprising the portion of the particulate substance dispersed in a portion of liquid dispersing medium in said sample support,
• performing at least one scanning procedure comprising
• acquiring a plurality of light transmission images of an image acquisition area translated along a scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support using an image acquisition device having an optical axis and
• processing a plurality of the acquired images and
• determining said at least one property,
• wherein said image acquisition area is perpendicular to the optical axis of the image acquisition device,
• wherein the method comprising performing two or more runs of the determination of the at least one property associated to the dry particulate substance, wherein the two or more runs comprises performing runs, which differs in time, which differs in liquid dispersing medium, which differs in a physical influence of the dispersed sample and/or which differs in concentration of the particulate substance in the liquid dispersing medium.

A method of performing at least one of a process optimization, a process development and a quality control of a production process of producing a product comprising the a dry particulate substance, wherein the method comprises determining at least one property associated to the dry particulate substance and determining if the at least one property associated to the dry particulate substance fulfil a criterion, wherein the determining at least one property associated to the dry particulate substance comprises

• providing a portion of the dry particulate substance,
• dispersing the dry particulate substance in a portion of a liquid dispersing medium to obtain a dispersed sample comprising the portion of the particulate substance dispersed in the portion of the liquid dispersing medium in a sample support,
• performing at least one scanning procedure comprising
• acquiring a plurality of light transmission images of an image acquisition area translated along a scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support using an image acquisition device having an optical axis and
• processing a plurality of the acquired images and
• determining said at least one property,
• wherein said image acquisition area is perpendicular to the optical axis of the image acquisition device,
• wherein the acquisition of the plurality of light transmission images of the image acquisition area along said scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support, comprises translating said image acquisition area stepwise along the scanning path and acquiring said light transmission images between motions of respective steps of said stepwise translations, wherein said respective steps are up to 1 cm and wherein the scanning path(s) comprise at least one straight path length section in a horizontal plan and wherein the image acquisition area has an angle of from 2 degrees to 20 degrees to said path length.

A processing method comprising determining at least one property associated to a dry particulate substance, wherein the processing method comprises determining if the at least one determined property fulfil a quality criterion comprising at least one threshold or a threshold range for said at least one property,

• wherein the determining of the at least one property associated to the dry particulate substance comprises
• providing a portion of the dry particulate substance,
• dispersing the dry particulate substance in a portion of a liquid dispersing medium to obtain a dispersed sample comprising the portion of the particulate substance dispersed in the portion of the liquid dispersing medium in a sample support,
• performing at least one scanning procedure comprising
• acquiring a plurality of light transmission images of an image acquisition area translated along a scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support using an image acquisition device having an optical axis and
• processing a plurality of the acquired images and
• determining said at least one property,
• wherein said image acquisition area is perpendicular to the optical axis of the image acquisition device,
• wherein the acquisition of the plurality of light transmission images of the image acquisition area along said scanning path through said dispersed sample in said sample support, comprises translating said image acquisition area stepwise along the scanning path and acquiring said light transmission images between motions of respective steps of said stepwise translations, wherein said respective steps are up to 1 cm and wherein the scanning path(s) comprise at least one straight path length section in a horizontal plan and wherein the image acquisition area has an angle of from 2 degrees to 20 degrees to said path length.